Page 4 - aruba-today-20181201

A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 1 december 2018
Mueller is back - and so are

questions about Trump, Russia

By CHAD DAY his discussions with Trump 2016 presidential election?
Associated Press confidant Roger Stone And did the president cross
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rob- about WikiLeaks during the the line and obstruct justice
ert Mueller is back. 2016 campaign. in his efforts to stymie the
After a quiet few months in American intelligence Russia investigation?
the run-up to the midterm agencies and Mueller Mueller's team is also in-
elections, the special coun- have said Russia was the tently focused on WikiLeaks
sel's Russia investigation is source of hacked mate- and whether anyone close
heating up again with a rial released by WikiLeaks to Trump or his campaign
In this June 21, 2017, file photo, special counsel Robert Mueller string of tantalizing new de- during the campaign that knew in advance about
departs after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. tails emerging this week. damaged Hillary Clinton's the group's plans to release
Associated Press None of it answers the cen- presidential effort. Mueller's the material hacked by
tral question: Did Donald office is trying to determine Russia.
Trump and his campaign whether Corsi and Stone ___
coordinate with Russia to had advance knowledge WHO HAS BEEN ACCUSED
help him win America's of WikiLeaks' plans. OF CRIMES?
2016 presidential election. Corsi has denied lying Thirty-three people and
But the new evidence does and rejected the plea of- three companies.
make clear that some in fer. Stone has also denied Since Mueller's appoint-
Trump's orbit recognized his having any contact with ment in May 2017, he's
Russia connections were WikiLeaks or knowledge of obtained guilty pleas from
a problem — so they lied its plans. seven people including five
about them. ___ involved in the Trump cam-
Mueller has indicated there WHAT DO WE KNOW FOR paign. Flynn and Papado-
are more criminal charges SURE? poulos both admitted to
to come. There were a lot of con- lying about their contacts
Here's a look at the key lines tacts between Russia and with Russians or Russian in-
of inquiry, what we know people close to Trump. termediaries.
and what we don't. And the Kremlin mounted Mueller also brought a se-
___ a large-scale operation ries of charges against
WHAT'S THE LATEST? that sought to hurt Hillary Manafort over undisclosed
It's been a busy week. Clinton and help Trump, foreign lobbying on behalf
On Thursday, Michael Co- according to Mueller and of Ukraine and millions of
hen, the longtime Trump U.S intelligence agencies . dollars that were never re-
lawyer and legal fixer, In public court filings, Muel- ported to the IRS. Manafort
pleaded guilty to lying to ler has woven a narrative of was convicted by a jury
Congress about his efforts events that he believes are of eight felony counts.
during the 2016 campaign significant. They include His right-hand man, Rick
to line up a Trump Tower contacts between a little- Gates, took a plea deal ,
Moscow project. The plea known campaign foreign and Mueller brought ob-
was significant because policy adviser and Russian struction charges against
it prominently featured intermediaries, conversa- Konstantin Kilimnik, a
Trump and conversations tions the president and Manafort associate who
he and his family had with his family had with Cohen prosecutors say has ties to
Cohen about the project. about a proposed Trump Russian intelligence.
Prosecutors did not accuse Tower Moscow and con- In addition, Mueller has
Trump or his grown children tacts between senior ad- brought sweeping indict-
of any wrongdoing. But Co- visers in Trump's incoming ments against Russians.
hen said he lied to be con- administration and Russian That includes charging 13
sistent with Trump's "politi- officials during the transi- Russians and three com-
cal messaging." tion period. panies with orchestrating a
The surprise plea came just Much of that has become covert effort to flood Amer-
days after prosecutors re- public because key partici- ican social media with dis-
vealed that former Trump pants — Cohen, ex-Nation- information to sow discord
campaign chairman Paul al Security Adviser Michael during the U.S. election
Manafort's separate plea Flynn and ex-Trump cam- campaign. One compa-
deal fell apart over allega- paign foreign policy ad- ny is fighting the charges.
tions that he lied to inves- viser George Papadopou- Twelve Russian intelligence
tigators, a development los— lied to federal agents officers were also accused
that could lead to new about it. of hacking Democratic or-
charges . ___ ganizations during the 2016
Draft court documents WHAT REMAINS UNKNOWN? campaign.
made public this week Mueller has yet to an- ___
also revealed that Mueller swer definitively the cen- WHAT ABOUT TRUMP?
made a plea offer to Je- tral questions in the Russia The president is angry to
rome Corsi, a conservative probe. the point of boiling about
writer and conspiracy the- Did any Trump associates the Mueller probe — and
orist. The documents ac- coordinate with Russia in he's hinted he may do
cused Corsi of lying about an attempt to sway the something about it.q